"God with us" and "God among the poor"

We celebrate the birth of the Christ child. "God With Us" who was born into the humble surroundings of a stable. He dwelt amongst us in grace and truth. Living simply and in solidarity with the poor he taught us about God and the love that God has for each one of us.

So "God with us" and "God among the poor" is what I have been thinking about over Christmas. I felt God prompting me to think again about how radical God is in his deep love for humanity. But how God placed Jesus in quite a simple life style. He was birthed into a workers family not into some cushy number. 

I feel maybe God is also making the point that all we need for our lives is actually a sufficiency to supply our food, clothing and shelter - our true wealth is not in palaces but in our love for family, friends and of course God our saviour.

At the start of his ministry in Luke's tells us that Jesus uses words of the prophet Isaiah to announce his purpose, he read out to those in the synagogue "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (Luke 4:17-21) and then said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It seems to me that if we are to have a share in his ministry we need also to bring Good News to the poor.

Jesus exercised what some Christians now call a "preferential option for the poor". I need to recognise that when I serve the poor I am responding to a call that comes from God and so in doing so you serve Jesus himself. This may sound strange so I suggest that in order to try and understand further you meditate this week on the following:

"I tell you, indeed whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine you did it for me!"(Matthew 25:40). The longer passage can be found between verses 31 and 40

A quote from St. Augustine "God does not demand much of you. He asks back what he gave you, and from him you take what is enough for you. The superfluities of the rich are the necessities of the poor. When you possess superfluities, you possess what belongs to others." from an Exposition on Psalm 147:12.

Dear Lord, help me to find my riches in my relationships and to be generous to those in need. Amen